Pocket match-safe.



No. 830,772. PATENTED SEPT.11, 1906.

G.F.DUNN.

POCKET MATCH SAFE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 29, 1906.

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GEORGE F. DUNN, OF BROCKTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

POCKET MATCH-SAFE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 11, 190 6.

Application filed November 29,1905. Serial No. 289,556.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. DUNN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brockton. in the county of Plymouth and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Pocket Matcl1Safes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like numerals on the drawings representing ike parts.

My invention is a hand-ejecting pocket match -safe, whereby the operator is not obliged to open the box to obtain a match, but simply presses a lever and ejects one match at a tme. Various devices of this general character have been heretofore proposed, depending upon more or less complicated mechanism, which, however, has been usually of such a nature as to get out of order easily or be too bulky or complicated or the like. Accordingly I have succeeded in devising a mechanism which is at once simple, compact, and thin or narrow, so that the match-safe need not be unduly bulky, but is of such a size that it is convenient for the vest-pocket and yet holds a reasonable number of matches.

The further constructional details and advantages of my invention will be pointed out n the course of the following description, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown a perfect embodiment of my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of a match-safe constructed accordmg to my invention, showing the operating mechanism thereof in side elevation and indicating in dotted lines the normal position of the matches. Fig. 2 is a lefthand elevation of the match-safe. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view showing the rear operating-lever. Figs. 4 and 5 are enlarged broken details in elevation, showing the discharge-opening at the end of the cover, and Fig. 6 is a view in side elevation of the complete mechanism.

The genera. shape and material of the box 1 may be of any usual or preferred kind. In the box 1 I provide a match-holding chamber 2 and a rear compartment 3, containing an ejecting-slide 4, which is pivoted at 5 to the long arm of the lever 6, pivoted at 7 in the box close to the top edge thereof. The lever 6 is normally held backward by any convenient means, as by a spring 8, bearing on said lever at 9 and held against the transverse par tition 10 at its upper end. At its upper end the lever 6 is provided with a transverse slot 11 for receiving a pin 12 from the long arm of a lever 13, pivoted at 14 and provided with a projecting thumb-piece 15, extending out of an opening 16 in the upper edge of the box. The slide 4 is guided in any convenient manner, being shown as provided with flanges 17, engaging opposite grooves or ways provided in the box 1, and at its forward end moves through an opening 18 in the lower end of the wall 10. This slide 4 is slightly smaller in cross-section than a match and accordingly will engage one match only at a time. At the opposite end of the match-safe 1 I provide an opening 19, herein shown as provided in the lower end of the cover 20, which is pivoted at 21 and normally held closed by a spring 2 in usual manner. The opening 19 is provided with a yielding retarding device, which constitutes a leading feature of my in vention. This retarding device consists of a strip 23 of thin highly-resilient rubber secured to the inner side of the cover .20 and depending freely in frontof the opening 19. This yielding retarding device or barrier may be in the form either of a single piece, as shown at 24, Fig. 4, slightly narrower than the opening 19, or it may be wider than the opening and contain a central slit 25, as shown in Fig. 5.

In operation the user, holding the matchsafe in the palm of the hand with the thumb resting along the upper' edge, depresses the thumb-piece of the lever 13, thereby quickly swinging the lever 6. This instantly serves to eject a match. The match readily pushes the curtain or barrier 24 or 25 aside under the pushing influence of the slide 4, and yet the said barrier serves to prevent any accidental escape of the matches. If it is desired to throw a match entirely out 01' to throw it out for the greater portion of its length, the movement of the thumb-piece 15 is quick and sudden, whereas if it is desired to eject a match only a short distance the thumbpiece is moved correspondingly slowly. The lever 6 and slide 4 are automatically restored by the spring 8 to their original position immediately upon removal of pressure from thumb-piece 15.

I am aware that various arrangements of levers and pushers have been devised for ac complishing the ejection of matches, and therefore I do not claim the same broadly, my invention residing in so arranging the levers that they occupy the same plane as the single row of matches and accomplish a strong positive ejecting movement of considerable amplitude by the very slight depression of the thumb-piece and a barrier capable of yielding without injury to itself or to the matches and automatically restoring itself when the match has been removed. The rubber or analogous substance which constitutes the barrier or curtain will permit practically endless use without material deterioration, and I have found in practice that by interposing this highly-flexible barrier all liability of the wedging of the matches in the opening 19 is prevented and their'accidental escape is also prevented, and yet their mechanical ejection is not impeded.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. A pocket match-safe, having two compartments, separated by-a wall, the forward compartment for containing matches, being provided at its lower front end with a discharge-opening and the rear compartment containing an actuating-lever extending the entire length of said chamber and pivoted to the match-safe at its extreme upper end, a slide guided through said wall in alinement with the discharge-opening for ejecting one match at a time and pivoted at its rear end to the lower end of said operating-lever, an operating-lever pivoted adjacent its forward end in the upper edge of the match-safe and loosely connected to the upper end of said actuating-lever for operating the latter, and an opening in the forward upper edge of said match-safe, said operating-lever having a thumb-piece at its extreme forward end projecting through said opening for operating the aforesaid -mechanism.

2. A pocket match-safe, having two compartments, separated by a wall, the forward compartment being substantially the same in length and depth as the length andthickness of a match for containing a single layer of matches, a discharge-opening at the lower front end of the safe, provided with a resilient barrier of thin tough, yielding material, a slide guided through said wall, in alinement with said opening, for ejecting one match at a time, an actuating-lever, pivoted at its lower end to the rear end of said slide, within the rear chamber, and extending the entire length of said chamber, said lever being pivoted to the match-safe at its extreme upper end, an operating-lever, pivoted adjacent its forward end, in the upper edge of the matchsafe, a slot-and-pin connection between the rear end of said operating-lever and the upper end of said actuating-lever, close to the.

fixed pivot of the latter, and an opening in the forward upper edge of said match-safe, said operating-lever having a thumb-piece at its extreme forward end projecting through said opening for operating the aforesaid mechanism.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

' GEORGE F. DUNN.

Witnesses:

GEo. H. MAXWELL, WILLIAM J. PIKE. 

